Parts Washer Solvent?

[Iplayfarmer]

I know someone one here, if not many of you, have a clever answer to this...

What's a good, inexpensive solvent to use in a parts washer?

 

[ericjeeper]

Water is the cheapest right now..
But seriously. Kerosene or diesel is going to be cheaper than Mineral spirits.I use mineral spirits. I bout like 30 gallons a few years ago.. and honestly I have not had to much of it evaporate off.. Keep the lid closed.. But beware a closed lid creates more of a "Flat surface syndrome" Meaning another flat elevated place to pile junk on...

 

[Bird]

Personally, I never used anything in my parts washer except Varsol. I bought some 5 gallon buckets of it from my local Exxon distributor, then later just had him refill those buckets when I needed more. It never bothered my hands as long as I kept them wet in it, but as soon as I dried them off, I needed to wash them with soap and water or they'd sure get chapped.

 

[SimS]

I just acquired a new parts washer and it came with an instant flat surface syndrome. To the point; I'm looking for a biodegradable non petroleum solvent. I'm old school and thought about mineral spirits or diesel but I'm not keen on having that much flammable liquid sitting around in my part time auto shop. I've heard about Simple Green, Oil Eater, etc. Has anybody had any luck using biodegradable cleaners in their parts washer? Thanks for any insight.
SimS

 

[Iplayfarmer]

...a closed lid creates more of a "Flat surface syndrome" Meaning another flat elevated place to pile junk on...

LOL! So True. I think mine is actually going to "live" on the end of the work bench under the cabinets. There won't be much room there, and I think I can resist the urge to pile junk.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

I like the good, old regular petroleum based solvent. I forget what it is actually called. But it works really good especially compared to the water based solvents.

steve

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I looked up prices on some of the solvents out there. They're not cheap. Are they worth it?

The suggestion to use mineral spirits or diesel sounds good to me if it works well. I don't really see myself using the parts washer too frequently. How often does one have to change out the solvent?

 

[skipmarcy]

I'm with Bird, Varsol is the best. I worked as an auto mechanic in many shops and tried all kinds of solvents, including the so-called "safe" solvents. Varsol used to be readily available from local petroleum distributors in 5 gal. buckets at a reasonable cost. It lasts a long time and isn't quite as flammable as mineral spirits. Like anything that dissolves oils well, it will dry your hands out, just use some hand lotion at the end of the work day.

 

[Bird]

Another possible consideration might be evaporation of your solvent. My parts washer was this one from Northern Tool, so I kept the lid closed when not in use. Since I was in the air tool repair business at the time, there were very few days when it wasn't used at all, except on weekends. But someone told me before I got the parts washer that the solvent sometimes evaporates too quickly. Now I don't know whether that's true or not, but with the Varsol I used, I could never tell that I lost any to evaporation. A little experimenting proved that it will burn, but it does not ignite easily; i.e., pretty high flash point, so pretty safe.

 

[BTDT]

Something we did in our shop years ago, was to install large filters to help keep the fluid cleaner for longer periods of time. It seemed to help.